CIO Insights and Analysis from DeloitteCONTENT FROM OUR SPONSORPlease note: The Wall Street Journal News Department was not involved in the creation of the content below.

Text Size

Regular

Medium

Large

Google+

Print

Using Tech to Connect With Consumers

Reaching today’s empowered shoppers is tougher than ever for consumer products companies, but big data and other technologies can help.

Armed with smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices, today’s consumers are digitally empowered and in control, proactively mining company websites, online retail sites, search engines, online forums, mobile apps, and social media platforms for information about products and services. In this new environment, it can be more difficult than ever for consumer products (CP) companies to reach and influence their target audience.

Many companies are shifting their ad spending from traditional media to digital channels in the hopes of overcoming this challenge, but that does not always translate into improved consumer engagement or better ROI. For example, just 14.3 percent of CP companies can prove the quantitative impact of social media, according to the CMO Survey, sponsored by Duke University, Deloitte, and the American Marketing Association. The most common metrics used to measure social media ROI are hits, visits, or page views, which can provide insights into awareness-building efforts but are not necessarily diagnostic of subsequent purchasing behavior.

Successful CP companies in a digital world will likely need new capabilities that help them become faster, more granular, and connected. CIOs can help their organizations succeed by focusing on building, acquiring, and leveraging capabilities in four areas:

Big data. Competency in analytics can help maximize the power of digital to deliver personalized communications. This capability can give CP companies insights to guide audience targeting and optimization of content, tactics, and spending. Nestlé, for example, has a digital acceleration team that uses big data to develop consumer insights and actionable recommendations to build brand equity. The team produces more than 1,500 pieces of social media content daily. Nestlé monitors social media conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and applies proprietary analytics tools to track the number of followers, their level of brand interaction, consumer sentiment, and comments. When appropriate, Nestlé participates in conversations on social media with consumers. Lessons are shared within the organization and become a source of consumer insights, recommendations, and innovation.

Always-on content. Developing content that breaks through online clutter and connects with consumers can be essential in building a new media model for always-on publishing and engaging social media. To enhance its approach to real-time marketing, adidas created digital newsrooms in 12 cities around the world. Marketing teams monitor trending topics linked to the brand and create real-time content. During the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) EURO 2016 tournament, adidas used its digital newsroom to broadcast stories about the athletes in real time over social media channels and digital screens in stadiums. Over a 30-day period, adidas received over 1.17 million shares—the highest number of social shares garnered by a brand during the UEFA tournament.

Personalization. Winning with consumers along their purchase journey typically requires customized marketing messages. This can be achieved through the application of analytics and technologies to transform capabilities in campaign management, targeted offerings, and engagement innovation. To increase the effectiveness of its digital marketing programs by eliminating wasted ad impressions, Kellogg Co. created a “decisioning engine.” Using a data management platform that helps it optimize ad frequency, Kellogg Co. is able to manage the delivery of messages to individual consumers, enabling one-to-one personalization at the right moment and for the right number of times.

Seamless execution. To drive conversion and loyalty, CIOs can help ensure that the customer experience appears seamless across multiple channels and touch points. This suggests enhancing point-of-sale execution while developing new capabilities in e-commerce, experience innovation, and marketing automation. To provide a seamless customer experience, Procter & Gamble launched the Tide Wash Club and the Tide Spin Club. The Tide Wash Club provides free shipping of Tide Pods to customers at regular intervals, while the Tide Spin Club allows customers to use a smartphone app to order laundry pickup and delivery from Tide-branded couriers.

*****

Empowered, digitally savvy shoppers can access product information anywhere, at any time, and on any connected device. To click with these elusive consumers, winning CP companies will likely need to tap new technologies to develop innovative, scalable capabilities that can make them faster, more granular, and better connected.

Related Deloitte Insights

Greg Powers, vice president of technology at Halliburton, says the company’s evolving strategy for collecting, analyzing, reacting to, and sharing data from deep in its oil wells can help its customers become more efficient and environmentally conscious in their oil-drilling operations.

New techniques for identifying and evaluating previously untapped information is empowering CIOs to provide business leaders with new insights. A comprehensive strategy aimed at analyzing this “dark data” could unearth new possibilities for understanding customers and improving products and services, among other benefits.

Some health plan organizations are using data and analytics to identify health care gaps, improve the customer experience, communicate more effectively with members, and realize cost savings. By investing in technologies, people, and processes for analytics, health plan CIOs may be able to address some of the challenges of today’s rapidly changing health care environment.

Editors Choice

Greg Powers, vice president of technology at Halliburton, says the company’s evolving strategy for collecting, analyzing, reacting to, and sharing data from deep in its oil wells can help its customers become more efficient and environmentally conscious in their oil-drilling operations.

Concerned by the growing prevalence of cyberattacks across industries, Texas Children’s Hospital launched a new, $60 million cybersecurity initiative two years ago. Today, it’s well on its way toward making the hospital’s operations secure, vigilant, and resilient.

Transforming outdated legacy systems into a collection of services is a complex undertaking, but it can open the door to significant new business opportunities. And that may finally give CIOs the ammunition they need to make over their core systems for the digital age.

About Deloitte Insights

Deloitte Insights for CIOs couples broad business insights with deep technical knowledge to help executives drive business and technology strategy, support business transformation, and enhance growth and productivity. Through fact-based research, technology perspectives and analyses, case studies and more, Deloitte Insights for CIOs informs the essential conversations in global, technology-led organizations. Learn more